Suresh Chawlahttp://northsidesun.com/taxonomy/term/221/0
enTrump inspired my father to not give uphttp://northsidesun.com/columns/trump-inspired-my-father-not-give
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://northsidesun.com/sites/northsidesun.com/files/styles/large/public/field/image/Suresh%20Chawla.jpg?itok=pTsbvaCb" width="300" height="482" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>I want to preface this letter by stating that I am not a Donald Trump supporter in the presidential election of 2016. Neither is my mother. Yet the encouragement he gave my late father over a quarter of a century ago was inspiring, and it was ironic in a sense too. I want to share our story with your readers.</p>
<p>It was February of 1988. My father and mother for over three years had tried to acquire bank financing to open up a small rinky dink Comfort Inn hotel in Greenwood. My dad had accumulated over 50 bank rejection letters by this point for financing of this hotel project. No one wanted to loan money to a businessman who operated a barely profitable convenience store and a money-losing fried chicken restaurant in Greenwood. My dad's spirit was nearly broken.</p>
<p>I happened to come home from Millsaps College for one week and worked for my dad. I went home to Greenwood because Dr. George Harmon, the greatest president in the history of Millsaps College, had fired me from my position as editor of the Millsaps newspaper for a controversial article I published. Things got real crazy for me as Millsaps students and faculty kind of revolted against the president in support of me, the "liberal" editor of the school's Purple and White newspaper. So I left school for one week and worked at my dad's convenience store.</p>
<p>My second day back I was working the cash register when my mom answered the phone. She turned to my dad and me and said that someone from the office of Donald Trump wanted to talk to a V.K. Chawla. When she handed the phone to my dad, I could not believe what was going on. I asked my mom what the devil this was all about. She told me that Dad had told her a week earlier he had called Trump's office up north to try and acquire funding for a hotel construction in Greenwood.</p>
<p>I could not hide my embarrassment as I heard my father talking to Donald Trump. He told Mr. Trump that he had this bold idea to build first class hotel accommodations in one of the poorest regions of the country, the Mississippi Delta. My dad admitted to him that he had been turned down by every bank all over the South that he had applied with. He went into great detail about how he had emigrated to this county in 1977 and all he was trying to do was work his way up and be a successful entrepreneur like Trump. He asked Mr. Trump if Trump would loan him $425,000 to build his first hotel.</p>
<p>And my mom and I will never forget what happened next. A customer at the cash register counter got loud and obnoxious with us over the price of a soda. So what did my dad do at this point? He asked Mr. Trump to hold on while he took care of the customer. Over the next excruciating minute or two, "Zillionaire" Donald Trump had to hold and listen while my Dad explained the 16 cent discrepancy to the customer. When the guy would not give in, my dad nicely acquiesced and the customer left happy. I was furious.</p>
<p>When my dad went back to the phone, I figured Trump would have hung the dadgum phone up. Rather than that, he gave inspiration and advice to my dad that we will never forget.</p>
<p>He told my dad rejection often was part of the entrepreneurial experience in America. Dad said that Trump told him, "If at first you do not succeed, then try again." Dad said Trump told him this Greenwood hotel project was "small-fry" and Trump would not touch something like this. But he encouraged my Dad to look at alternative sources of funding rather than straight conventional bank loans.</p>
<p>And then Trump inspired my father to the fullest when he told him that Dad's immigrant story was wonderful. He said to come from such poverty and make it in North America was a great example of so many hard-working Indian immigrants living the American Dream. How incredibly ironic with today's political talk that Trump said that about immigrants, mind you my father was legal and became a U.S. citizen in 1985.</p>
<p>Trump told Dad what he and Mom had already achieved with the small store and fast-food place was great in itself. He said if Dad had overcome so much to get to this point, the dilemma he was facing with acquiring financing was nothing in comparison.</p>
<p>And after a six or seven minute phone call that was it. After the call when my father told us the things Trump told him, I figured Trump was just blowing my dad off but in a nice way. My dad thought otherwise. His spirit had been rekindled.</p>
<p>Toward the end of 1988 my Dad finally got an SBA loan after doubling up his efforts to get alternative financing from conventional loans. By the end of 1989 he almost went bankrupt because of a bad contractor, but he opened up his first hotel. My brother quit med school at UMCC to help keep my father afloat by operating the first hotel. I rushed to get my MBA at the age of 22 from Millsaps so I could go home quickly and help keep my father’s hotel dreams alive.</p>
<p>Twenty-five years later, we are getting ready to open our 17th hotel in the Delta and start construction on our 18th. Yes, my dad lived the American Dream that Trump talked about.</p>
<p>We tragically lost my father unexpectedly on May 24. Over the next three days we got a call from Gov. Phil Bryant to offer his condolence. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves sent us a beautiful letter talking about my dad's life. U.S. Sen. Wicker and his wife Gayle called me personally and talked about how they loved meeting my father and what he meant for Mississippi. My father had indeed lived the American Dream that Trump talked about.</p>
<p>And the day before my dad's funeral, Rep. Bennie Thompson had a resolution read and passed on the floor of the United States House of Representatives honoring my father's life and his impact on the Mississippi Delta. Yes, hallelujah, my father had definitely lived the American Dream that Trump talked about.</p>
<p>Three weeks after my dad passed away, Trump announced for president. What I would do to just sit with my dad now every night and talk about the ups and downs of Donald Trump. Trump inspired him that cold day in 1988. My dad very seldom told people about that phone call, but it changed everything for him and our family. It was something that I will never forget.</p>
<p>Suresh Chawla lives in Greenwood and manages a privately-owned hotel group operating throughout Mississippi.</p>
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